


Sightless

by Oddlittlereader



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Blind Reader, Disabled Reader, Insinuated assault, Mention of torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-26 10:53:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18715597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddlittlereader/pseuds/Oddlittlereader
Summary: After escaping from Hydra, you take your place in the Avengers Tower, living amongst Earth's Mightiest Heroes.An Agent of the fallen SHIELD, you fought against the effects of Hydra as you tried to right yourself after months of capture.Upon meeting the famous Captain America and the Winter Soldier, you found yourself intrigued by more than just survival.





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> Please enjoy, I tend to avoid using y/n within reader work as I find it throws it all off. In this, I will be using a given nickname for the reader. This is also one of my first times doing an Avengers fic and I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Currently no Bucky or Steve in this chapter. They will appear later on.

It was eight months since Hydra was revealed within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Only two days since you had been able to escape Hydra, having been taken captive after you arrived back from a two-month-long mission, not knowing all that had been revealed. Because of your closeness with agents Romanoff and Barton, better known as Black Widow and Hawkeye, you had been taken as a Prisoner of War, tortured for your knowledge on them and their mission. 

You hadn’t known where they were. 

When you’d joined S.H.I.E.L.D., having been recruited from an orphanage along with many others, there was uncertainty to who would train you, or even if you were capable of being trained. 

A genetic mutation had left you born without sight. You read the world within the connections and impacts of those around you, reading waves through sound or contact. It wasn’t until Hawkeye had vouched for you, saying he would train you from then on. He became for all purposes your brother, while his deafness and your blindness often caused some strange ways of communication, you were family. This grew to include Natasha Romanoff when she and Hawkeye had become permanent partners. Between the two of them, your training had come to outshine your classmates and you excelled through the ranks causing you to be known as Ace, later becoming your name when you gave up your birth name. You weren’t involved in the Avengers Initiative placed by Director Fury, you hadn’t been highly ranked enough for that, so you began solo missions while Clint and Natasha were invested in other things. This worked for a while.

At least until Hydra took over and S.H.I.E.L.D. was over, you had been sure that they’d come for you, but then it was a month….then two….and then six and you knew you had to find your way out. It had taken two months to plan it. Hydra was taking no chances with you, you’d been chained to a chair in the middle of a cell, electrodes attached to you provided shocks when you didn’t answer questions correctly; this was often. 

You’d lived like that for months. Exhausted, dehydrated and malnutrition, you were at your breaking point and when a chance came to escape, you took it. In one of the rare times, you were unchained from your chair, you took advantage of the brief window of alone time and managed to strangle the guard through the cell door. Taking his keys as he went down, you unlocked the door and took his gun. Taking care of anyone in your path until you managed to get out. 

That was two days ago, and here you were, standing outside of Stark Tower. You had to assume that Clint and Natasha were in the building, only those with a high enough level knew they’d been working with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers on the Avenger’s team. If they weren’t here, you didn’t know what you’d do. You hadn’t heard what had happened to Director Fury or Maria Hill and hopefully, that meant that they were bunkered down somewhere.

Steeling yourself for the upcoming confrontation you walked forward through the doors into Stark Tower. 

The busyness of the main floor immediately sent you into overdrive. Backing yourself against the wall you struggled to gain a level of control over your breathing. You couldn’t remember the last time you were in a space with this many people alone. From what you could there were several simply passing through on their way out or in and from the direction, you could pinpoint the reception desk. Walking determinedly in the same direction you stopped when you sensed the barrier. 

“Can I help you?” A cheery voice asked from your left. 

“I’m looking for Clint Barton.” You said, turning to face where the voice was coming from. 

“Please follow me.” The cheery voice dropped, taking on a serious tone as the owner walked away. 

It had been hard to describe how your mutations had come to be, you tried to explain how you experienced the world to Clint one night over supper. Explaining how the impact of physical objects together created something recognizable and tangible to you, you could extend your consciousness through physical connections. This aided when having to sense movement on missions in other rooms and lessened how much your blindness disabled you. Through these mutations, your hearing was vastly improved over the norm, helping you in fights when you could feel the shift in movement and anticipate through sound and movement where the next punch would come from. 

In this, you followed the impact of the owner's feet across the floor, past what you assumed was security guards and into an elevator. Passing twenty floors before stopping, following the footsteps out of the elevator and into a room, you were told to wait, and then the person left. 

It wasn’t long before the door opened and another person walked in. You’d found the chair and table in the room and the chair across from you scraped across the floor. They didn’t say anything, so you waited. 

Barely five minutes had passed before the person said, “What are you doing in my tower looking for Clint Barton? Who told you to come here?” it was a smooth voice, one where proper pronunciation had been taught, where one could tell the status of the individual form the voice alone. So this was Tony Stark. 

“Mr. Stark, I am looking for Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff, I promise you that they will want to see me.” You folded your hand in front of you on the table. Hoping you appeared confident. You didn’t even know what you looked like, usually, Natasha dealt with that, making sure your hair was reasonable and kept as low maintenance as possible, but that was ten months ago. You had no idea what you looked like know, but even thinking back to the fights with the Hydra agents and the general roughing up they did while you’d been captured, you were sure it wasn’t pretty. You’d washed your face when you got a chance and searched for cuts, but there was a chance you’d missed something, you were pretty out of it.

“See here’s the thing. Since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., you’re not the first person to come looking for them, give me a reason as to why I’d even notify them if they were here.” His voice sounded hard like he believed you to be a part of Hydra. 

“I was captured by Hydra upon my arrival from a mission after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. I managed to escape two days ago. I cannot prove to you the nature of my relationship with Agents Barton or Romanoff but I can promise you that if you tell them Ace is here then they will want to see me.” You let out a breath when you heard his chair pulled back and the door opened.

It took less than five minutes before you heard them.

“Let me in there Stark,” Clint commanded, your heart leaped when you heard his voice. There was a large part of you that was sure you’d never hear it again.

“Not until I’m sure she’s not Hydra. J.A.R.V.I.S. is scanning her now.” Stark said and you started, glancing around wildly you tried to sense another person but there was nothing in the room. Your heart started to beat harder as you took steadying breathes to try and center yourself. 

“Stark. I like you but if you don’t move, I will end you.” Came the light voice of Natasha Romanoff, the last thing that many heard before she took them out. 

Stark must have backed off with that as the next thing you heard was the opening of the door, your confusion earlier had left your back to the door and all you heard was the sharp intake of breath before the arms of Clint Barton closed around you. 

“Oh Ace, is it really you? I thought you were gone.” You clutched him back, feeling his tears on your shoulder, you found yourself crying as you hugged him. He was your family, he was your everything. Clint pulled away after long moments and took your face in both hands, he didn’t say anything as he just looked at you, finally placing a kiss on your forehead as he backed away sniffing. 

Next came Natasha who placed one hand under your chin, “what happened to you?” She running a hand through your hair and scrubbing something off your face. 

At her words, reality set in place and you took a step back. Your back against the wall, “you left me.” 

You couldn’t see what passed between them, but when a hand came to touch your arm you slapped it away, “No! The fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and you don’t even notify me!? I was captured when I got back. That was eight months ago! You know what they do to captured agents.” Your chest was heaving and you were yelling and it was like a dam burst and you slid down the wall, hiding your tears and face behind your hands. 

Someone kneeled in front of you, they placed their hand on your knee and you didn’t try to stop them, “We were told you were gone.” came the quiet voice of Natasha, and you could hear the pain in her voice. They had grieved the loss of you. 

“We didn’t know what else to do, Ace. We trusted the source.” Clint’s broken voice came from beside you and you felt him settle on your right sight. His hand finding yours as he took your hand. His fingers tapped against your palm in morse code, please forgive us. We love you. You let out a hiccup as you tried to smile. Never apart? You tapped back on his palm. He only squeezed your hand in a promise. 

“You both know that I don’t like when you talk in morse code.” Came the exasperated voice of Natasha, you couldn’t help but give a small smile at that, it was a constant thorn in her side that you and Clint communicated this way. It had been necessary for the early days when he didn’t have his hearing aids or simply chose not to wear them now. You couldn’t understand sign language for obvious reasons and he couldn’t always hear you. Tapping had grown to be the best option, Nat had never had a use for it, coming to their lives too late to experience Clint without his hearing aids.

You grasped Clint’s shoulder and pulled him close and blindly shot a hand out to Natasha who leaned forwards when you pulled. Gathering them in for a hug you let out some breath you didn’t realize you’d been holding. Natasha’s arms wrapped around you as she pulled you close, “you’re with us now Птичка.” The term of endearment lifting your heart, it had been too long. 

You stayed in the same place until a cough brought you back to reality. Pulling away you turned to where the cough came from, though you could have sworn you heard a quiet sniff that didn’t come from Clint. “As much as I hate to break this up Barton, Romanoff, we were in the middle of a meeting upstairs and we should get back to it.” It was Stark, you didn’t know if he had been there the entire time but couldn’t find yourself caring. 

A loud sigh came from beside you and Clint stood up, his hand on your shoulder, “come on, let's go up.” he pulled you to your feet. You wiped at your face to get any evidence of your breakdown away but a light touch stopped you. 

“I got you,” Natasha said, running her hands through your hair and again trying to scrub something off of your face, you winced when she touched where the electrodes had been and she stilled. “Forgive me,” she whispered as she pulled away. 

You didn’t know what to say but felt Clint’s hand press on your back, leading you forward and out of the room. “We have a meeting to get to, but you can stay in my suite, it should be done in an hour,” he said, leading you through the hallway and to an elevator.

You nodded, feeling grateful that he knew you so well, you didn’t want to see anyone else now. Now that you had found your family, that was all you needed, that and maybe a shower.


	2. Expectations

After going up a couple of floors, you and Clint stepped off, Natasha and Stark continuing on. “Here we go, I’m on the thirty-second floor, Stark has a voice control system set up so you can ask J.A.R.V.I.S. to get you here. Nat is on the floor above mine. We’re all given separate spaces.” With that you followed him a couple of steps to a door that opened for him, he called out, “J.A.R.V.I.S. allow Ace access to my rooms please.”

A robotic yet seemingly kind voice responded, “Affirmative Agent Barton, miss Ace will be given access.”

You walked into the room, your hand along the wall, “Thank you, you can call me Agent Ace please, or just Ace.”

The voice responded, “Agent Ace it will be.”

Nodding, you followed the feel of Clint’s footsteps until you were behind him, “here is the bathroom if you want to shower. There should be everything there, we can get you new clothes soon, I’m sure everything of yours is gone now hey?” You simply nodded, and he walked past you back towards the door, “okay...I’ll try and be done as soon as I can….but with you here, I’m sure Stark will have lots to discuss.”

You walked towards him, “is it okay that I’m here?”

“It is more than okay, and if they have an issue they can bring it to Nat and I. You are not going anywhere.” The strength and promise in his voice set a calm inside you and you nodded, “I’ll be back. Get settled.” and then the door shut behind him and you were alone.

You showered, taking your time as you tried to feel clean. Months inside Hydra left your skin crawling, you needed to feel at home in it again. You took a towel from a pile and realized that you might need Natasha to cut your hair again. Your wandering took you to Clint’s room as you searched for something to wear, digging through the top drawer, knowing that where he kept his pajamas, you managed to find a shirt and pajama pants, while didn’t exactly fit, at least they smelled nice and were comfortable.

You fell back on Clint’s bed as you tried to reason through everything, or even plan what to do next. But S.H.I.E.L.D. was gone and you didn’t know what your next mission was. Through all your worrying, you fell asleep, the adrenaline of the last two days finally running out as exhaustion set in.

_Pain. The pain was everything. You couldn’t feel anything else, all senses deadened. Laughing. Reality blurring with fiction._

“Ace!” A hand at your shoulder, your arm shot out your body’s instincts following it. Your arm wrapped around the assailant's neck, you pulled back, your legs wrapped around their waist. It took you a couple of seconds to realize that it was only Clint.

You let go instantly, dropping to the ground, you felt shame wash over you, “I’m sorry.” you whispered.

Clint’s arms draped over your shoulder as he pulled you own to sit beside him, “nightmare’s? You were screaming.”

“I...yeah.” You couldn’t offer much more, you didn’t want to weigh him down with what Hydra did to you, that’d only make him feel worse.

“It’s okay. It happens to all of us.” He ran his fingers through your hair as you tried to calm down, “I talked to the rest of the team, you’re staying here for the foreseeable future. You can train with us, but for now, you’re not going on missions.“

You stilled at that, “I can do missions.” standing up you turned to face him.

“Right, sure. You’re dealing with severe PTSD right now. Lets through you back into attacking Hydra.” His sarcasm hit you where it hurt.

“I’m fine.” You ground out, taking a step closer.

Clint caught your fists in his, knowing what would come next, “You’re not. Even without the issues, you haven’t trained in months. You need to get back up to standards.”

You knew the truth in his words, as much as you didn’t want to admit it. So instead you pulled away and left the room, needing space from your overprotective big brother. You had only gotten a couple of feet before he pulled you back into his embrace.

“C’ mon Ace, let's get you back up to standard then we can approach it. Plus just give me some time, I just got you back.” the shame-filled you again, your own pride had gotten in the way of seeing his own pain. Clint’s pain came from losing you and finding you were okay now, but only after they’d let you behind….you needed to think of him.

You relaxed in his embrace, “okay….I can do that.”

Clint placed a kiss on the top of your head before relaxing his arms a bit, “okay. Tomorrow you’ll go for a full work up, make sure everything's okay, and then we’ll get you some clothes. There’s another room in this suite, so you can have it if you’d like.”

You nodded and Clint led you to another room just across from his, as your hands touched the blankets, you realized how tired you were, “what time is it Clint?” you asked.

“It’s about seven pm ish, you slept for a couple of hours after the meeting. But you likely need more rest. Sleep and I’ll be in the next room.”

Saying goodnight you climbed beneath the covers, hoping that you wouldn’t have nightmares.

_You couldn’t feel anything, there was no physical presence, nothing but the shocks and hits they inflicted upon you. You couldn’t tell where they were coming from. No way to prepare._

You woke up with a start, covered in sweat. But you couldn’t sense anyone with you, meaning Clint didn’t wake. Sitting up you rubbed your eyes, even if you couldn’t see visually, they still reacted to facial expressions and stimulus. The only difference you were ever told was the unnatural paleness to your eyes, which sometimes set people on edge. Hesitantly you called out, “J.A.R.V.I.S. what time is it?”

“Agent Ace, it is currently 5 am.” the voice responded.

“Is Agent Romanoff or Agent Barnes awake?” You asked, climbing out of the bed.

“Agent Romanoff is awake”

“Thank you, JARVIS.” You said, creeping from the room, your hand along the wall. Hoping that Clint wasn’t wearing his hearing aids so that he wouldn’t be able to tell you were gone.

“My pleasure, Agent Ace,” JARVIS responded.

You followed the wall out the door and to the elevator where you asked JARVIS to go to Natasha’s floor. After stepping off the elevator, you knocked on the door, hoping she’d open.

“Ace?” The door swished open and Natasha greeted you, ushering you inside.

“Hi, sorry. Couldn’t sleep and JARVIS said you were awake and I couldn’t just sit there.” you started rambling when a chuckle came from Natasha.

“I understand. Did you want to see if I have anything for you to wear? Clint might want his pajamas back eventually.” You nodded sheepishly and followed her to her room. You stood still as you heard her rummaging around in her closet.

“What do you want? I have a standard S.H.I.E.L.D. suite here that you might feel best in.”

“Yes, yes that please.” You said quickly, gathering the familiar material in your hands, “do you might if I just change here?” you’d come to realize over the years that other people saw nakedness differently than you did, you simply didn’t recognize the big deal, but much of that may have come with having sight.

“Go ahead Ace, you’ve done it before,” Natasha said a smile in her voice.

You nodded gratefully before changing into the comfortable bodysuit. You sighed once it was on, already feeling better in your own skin. “Thanks, Nat.”

“Anytime Птичка. Now sit, I’m fixing your hair.” She pulled you so that you were sitting between her legs as she took scissors to your hair, “let's get this back into shape. Then when everyone's awake we’ll go down to the med floor and make sure everything is looking fine.”

You murmured in agreement, feeling safe at the hands of the world-famous assassin, it didn’t seem like long before she was brushing the hair off and pulling you up. “Coffee?” you nodded and followed closely behind.

After being placed on the couch with a cup of coffee built exactly the way you liked it, Natasha began the questions, “I need to know everything that happened, Птичка. I know you didn’t tell Clint.”

You considered her words as you sipped the coffee, “What do you want to know.”

“What did Hydra do to you?” She asked.

“What does it matter? It’s done now,” you said, turning to face away.

“Please,” you could hear the plea, “I need to know.”

You caught your tongue between your teeth as you thought. “You cannot take any of this on. You cannot risk your safety for it.”

You could hear her teeth grind from here, “Fine.”

You steeled yourself for a second before letting out a breath, “a lot happened….general torture of PoW’s, I wasn’t the only one. They had a sensory deprivation tank where I went a lot, they’d get you unexpectedly there. They took a lot from the enhanced agents, blood and samples. I guess hoping to replicate something. Nat, you’ve been captured by enemies, you know what happens.”

“Yeah….yeah I know what happens.” you could hear the sadness in her voice.

“Don’t pity me.” You snapped, feeling anger rise.

“I’m not! I just know what it’s like.” Natasha said, not rising to your anger, usually, it was the two of you in a battle of stubborn will, with Clint trying to keep the peace.

“Then you’ll know I don’t want to discuss it.” You finished, sinking back onto the couch, you were still so tired.

“I understand, Птичка. I’ll drop it.” Natasha said.

You let the silence span, enjoying the quiet solitude and just enjoying the coffee. But then a thought came to mind, “will Clint know I’m here?”

“We can get JARVIS to tell him,” Natasha responded before speaking out, “JARVIS, please let Clint know Ace is in my room when he wakes up.”

“Will do Agent Romanoff,” the voice responded.

You nodded, another thought hits you, “Clint said there was a team here? Anyone, I know? I didn’t hear anything about Hill and Fury.”

Natasha was quiet for a minute, “Hill joined Stark here and Fury….Fury is doing his own command right now. Otherwise, you met Tony Stark. There’s Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes, sometimes Thor comes by.”

You hadn’t met them, but you recognized Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner, after hearing Natasha speak about them after the first attack on New York, “and they’re fine with me being here?”

Natasha scoffed, “doesn’t matter, they don’t have much of a choice.”

You let out a laugh and was just about to respond when the door opened.

“Ace, you can’t just wander off like that,” Clint said, walking over.

You sighed, this was going to get old quick, “you told me where Nat’s room was, plus you were notified as to where I was.” Clint didn’t respond, just grumbled as he went to get coffee. He came back and sat between you and Natasha, forcing you to move your feet onto his lap.

“Yeah, yeah. Fine.” He muttered as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Clint, we’ll go to see Cho after your done your coffee. They should all be up by now.” Natasha said. Clint only grunted in affirmation.

You sighed and leaned back, content in this space and in this moment.

It wasn’t long before you were following Clint and Natasha out of the suite and into the elevator, going down a couple of levels until arriving in a place that smelt like sanitizer.

Dr.Cho was a nice enough person, she took you to the back room for an exam while Clint and Natasha waited.

“Did they break any bones?” She said, running her hands along her limbs feeling for abnormality.

“I think they got the right forearm, I barely remember it, I think I was kept under meds in that time.” Cho took that arm and checked it over.

“From what I can tell, it seems it was set properly, you haven’t noticed any residual pain?” She asked.

“No, not that I’ve noticed,” you replied, flexing your arm to test.

Next, her hands went to the wounds on your face, the ones from the electrodes, “the most I can do is help the healing process, there will still be minor scars.” she gave you a shot to speed the healing and help the scarring. “I’ll run a full body scan and find you later with the results.”

You nodded, expecting as much. “Other than that,” she said, “you seem alright to go. If you notice any pain, come back here.” you thanked her and left the bay, finding your way back to Natasha and Clint was harder you expected. While you’d noticed the other person, you hadn’t been paying enough attention to notice they were right in front of you. Upon collision, however, you did.

“Oh I’m sorry, I should have been watching here I was going.” said a kind husky voice. Their hand reaching out to steady you.

You shook your head and stepped back, “No, I should have noticed. I’m trying to find the elevator but must have gotten turned around.”

“You just need to take the next right and you should be there soon. I’m Steve Rogers.”

“Thanks, nice to meet you, Rogers.” You said distractedly already walking away, more anxious than anything to find Clint and Natasha, you didn’t notice Steve’s hand out to shake or the look of confusion that he gave you when you didn’t shake it. Taking the right, it didn’t take you long till you were back with Natasha and Clint.

“Everything alright?” Clint asked, leading you towards the elevator. You nodded, half listening as he continued to discuss clothing plans, “I think it’s best if Natasha goes out for clothes. Is there anything you want?”

He tapped your back to get your attention, “Oh….sorry, I’m not sure,” you said absently.

“Everything okay?” you heard the concern in Clint’s voice.

You shrugged and tried to smile, “it’s fine. Just tired.”

“Okay….maybe it’s best if you go have a nap.” Clint said, stopping the elevator at his floor, “you go sleep and I’ll come back in a couple of hours.”

You nodded, stepping off the elevator and after hearing the doors close behind you, you slid down the wall. Your head in your hands as memories from the past months began to come back. They were hazy, moments here and there. You had thought you’d been aware of the passage of time, but things were starting to come back.

Half-remembered white rooms, the smell of antiseptic both familiar and terrifying. The smell of burning flesh, quiet instances of no pain, too medicated to care about the world around you. Fingers dragged across your stomach as pressure encircled your throat and wrists.

You struggled to remember as trying to hold onto the memories only pushed them farther away. Your breath became harder and harder to intake. Panic filling your chest as you tried to remember what was done to you. You couldn’t remember anything that had been done to you.

You needed to leave. Get out. Feeling trapped in this hallway. “JARVIS. I need air.” You gasped, pulling yourself up the wall, hearing the elevator coming. As the doors opened, you pulled yourself in and leaned back against the wall as the doors closed.

“Continue forward please Agent Ace. The door to the outside is across the room. Currently, there is a clear pathway straight forward.” The voice of JARVIS spoke as the elevator opened. A wave of relief washed over you as you heard the instructions, with steady steps you reached the door; pulling them open you felt the wind on your face. You continued forward until you felt the barrier beneath your hands.

The wind whipped your hair around your face. The wind brought a level of calm that you hadn’t experienced in ages. With a sigh you sat down, breathing in and out as you brought yourself down from the panic attack.


	3. Introductions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ps. more Bucky in next chapter <3

\----Cap-----

“Mr. Stark, there is an individual downstairs asking for Agent Barton.”The voice of JARVIS interrupted Tony halfway through his sentence.

Tony narrowed his eyes before shrugging, “guess that I’ll be right back….nobody should know that you’re here.” He said, nodding to Clint.

Steve glanced over at Clint who was watching Tony leave in confusion, “nobody knows I’m here,” he said aloud to no one in particular.

Sam shrugged, “maybe it’s just coincidence.”

“Agent Barton, Agent Romanoff, Mr. Stark has told me to tell you that there is someone by the name of Ace looking for you,” JARVIS said over the speaker. Clint stood up so fast his chair tipped over.

“Nat,” he choked, “it can’t be.” Steve’s eyes widened as he saw the vulnerability on two of the world’s most renowned assassins. Before he knew it they were gone. He looked at the others in confusion.

“What just happened?” he asked, trying to piece together the brief show of unexpected emotion.

“Probably some old friend,” Sam said, leaning back in his chair folding his hand behind his head.

Fifteen minutes had passed before Steve heard the elevator open. He pushed off the counter, coffee in hand, “What was all that about?”

Natasha and Tony walked out, his eyebrows rising when he saw the redness around Natasha’s eyes. They were all sitting down again when Clint came through the elevator, his eyes were rimmed in red.

“What happened?” Steve asked when all were sitting but no one was saying anything.

Natasha took a deep breath before standing, grasping the back of her chair she made eye contact with each of them, “there will be someone staying with us for the foreseeable future. If any of you have anything to say or disagree then we will be having a private word.” The threat obvious in her voice, her glare fierce. It wasn’t often that Steve felt fear, but at that moment a cold shiver of fear slid its way down his back.

“Who are they?” Sam asked, looking between Clint and Natasha.

Natasha glanced at Clint as if looking for permission but Clint answered instead, “my sister. We thought she was lost,” he took a deep breath, his voice becoming thick, “I mean. We were told she was lost in the fall of SHIELD. She’s back for however long she needs. She goes by Ace.”

“That’s a call for good news, right?” Sam said joyfully, “She’s back now, all is fine.”

“She was kept as a Prisoner of War since the fall of SHIELD up until now,” Natasha said flatly. Steve drew in a sharp breath, eight months as a prisoner of Hydra, the methods they employed could break the steadiest person.

“She’s welcome here. Let us know what we can do.” Steve said in the following silence.

Natasha nodded at him gratefully, mouthing a thank-you as she sat down. She gestured to Tony to continue the meeting. He cleared his throat before nodding, continuing the meeting from where he’d been before the interruption, “as I was saying before... there have been reports of a vigilante in Hell’s Kitchen. Known as the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

The next day, Steve had been asked by Dr.Cho to come down for blood tests, Cho had been attempting to identify singular components of the serum, components that could be used to create medicines and help others.

On the way, Steve was overviewing reports from outlying SHIELD agents; not looking where he was walking when he ran into another body, “oh I’m sorry, I should have been watching where I was going.” He reached out to steady them.

She shook her head, her head turned in the other direction,  “No, I should have noticed. I’m trying to find the elevator but must have gotten turned around.”

“You just need to take the next right and you should be there soon. I’m Steve Rogers.”

He put his hand out towards her but she hadn’t seemed to notice.

“Thanks, nice to meet you, Rogers.” She said walking down the hall, one hand on the wall. Steve watched her go, confusion clear on his face. She had been wearing a SHIELD uniform. Maybe an outlying agent coming for treatment? He shrugged it away, continuing on his way.

Later he was leaving the elevator with Bucky, “Y’know Buck. Did you see how shaken Natasha and Clint were?”

Bucky shrugged, he’d been with the Avengers for six months now, Steve had found him two months after the fall of SHIELD. He was still acclimatizing to the time and social nature of this time, “Seemed personal.”

“Yeah. Have you seen this Ace person at all?”Steve asked, pulling coffee from the cabinet in the communal kitchen.

“No, probably staying in Clint’s room,” Bucky replied, his head whipped around and he tensed as the elevator door opened. As Clint and Natasha walked out he relaxed, still getting used to the constant amount of people but in a space without no threat. It had been an adjustment.

Steve grinned at them, “how’s it going?”

Natasha walked over to them as Clint walked through the room as if looking for something, “you haven’t seen anyone in here have you?”

Steve shook his head, “just Bucky and I.”

“JARVIS said she was here,” Clint said, walking back to them.

A quick glance around the room proved as such, “Did you look on the balcony?”

Clint’s eyes widened, “of course she’d be out there.” He turned and left without a word. Back minutes later with the same girl Steve had seen down in the med bay.

“Птичка, you can’t go off like that,” Natasha said, walking towards her. She narrowed her eyes at Natasha.

“Nat, I’m not glass. You know that. JARVIS told you where I was.” You had a kind voice. Natasha sighed and stepped away.

Clint placed a hand on her back to get her attention, “Ace, this is Captain America and the Winter Soldier.”

Steve smiled at her, “we met earlier in the med bay.” She put her hand out towards him to shake and he took it, shaking it briefly, “Just call me Steve and my grumpy pal over here is Bucky.” he said gesturing beside him.

\---Ace---

“Ace, this is Captain America and the Winter Soldier,” Clint said, his hand turning you slightly.

The kind voice from the med bay earlier spoke, “We met earlier in the med bay.” You stuck your hand in his direction, hoping that he hadn’t done that. You could have extended your consciousness but you were out of habit and too exhausted for much more today.

The kind voice took your hand, his larger than yours, but he hadn’t shaken your hand too hard, “just call me Steve and my grumpy pal over here is Bucky.” You gave a small smile to the left of Steve.

“Nice to meet you both, I’m Ace. Thank you for allowing me to stay here.” You stepped away from Clint. You needed to show a level of independence.

“It’s all good Ace. Natasha and Clint didn’t offer us much of an option.” Steve said you could hear the smile in his voice.

“Did you threaten them?” You asked, turning back towards Clint.

 

“We’d made you a promise,” Clint said as a way of explanation. You sighed and turned back to the two men.

“If me being here is an issue, I can leave.” You said.

“No. No. Don’t do that, you’re staying here. We have too much space as it is.” Steve said, insisting, an unexpected hand placed on your shoulder and you reacted without thinking, pulling it forward and twisting to get leverage. You caught yourself just as you were about to push.

You let go quickly and stepped away, raising your hands in front of you. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking”

You heard him stand up, clearing his throat he said, “It’s all good.” there was a tone of confusion in his voice.

“You’re blind.” Came a voice from beside Steve, the one you guessed was Bucky. It was low, husky, it sounded like it wasn’t used to speaking.

You turned towards him and nodded, “I am.”

“Oh shit.” Came from Steve, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

You shook your head, “no. I shouldn’t have reacted that way.”

He didn’t say anything, it was how it always was. Once they found out that you were blind, they treated you differently. Reacted differently to everything you did. You sighed, turning back to Clint, “should we finish the tour?”

Clint’s hand settled on her back and he tapped a response, ‘ _we’ll leave’_. You nodded gratefully and followed when he led you out, “Nice to meet you both.” You said as you reached the elevator.

“You should have seen Steve’s face Ace,” Clint said, finally letting out the laugh.

“Nice twist,” Natasha said, clapping you on the back.

You sighed, “this is going to go really well isn’t it?” but you couldn’t help but smile a little at their laughter.

“Steve was so surprised! Oh, Ace. This is going to be fun.” Clint said laughing.

“Yeah yeah. It’ll be great.” You said sarcastically, walking out when the doors opened. No idea where you were. But upon entrance, you could sense a large cavernous space.

“Oh Птичка, it’ll be fun.” Natasha said following you in, “anyways this is the training center.” You followed her into the room space. You’d have to come back when you were less exhausted.

“Can we start tomorrow?” You asked, wanting to start feeling in control again.

Clint responded, “yes, of course. We’ll start on the basics.”

“Thank you.” You said, giving him a small smile, “I think it’s best if I go to bed now.”

“Oh yeah, okay. Sounds good.” Clint responded and you followed him to the elevator. Quickly going to his floor and saying your goodbyes to the two as you went to your room.

\-- Cap --

“You’re blind,”  Bucky said from beside Steve. Steve shot a look to Bucky, about to berate him for being so rude, just as she responded.

“I am.” Ace said, now looking at Bucky...No. Looking in the direction of Bucky. She’d followed his voice, but Steve saw now that her eyes weren’t focussing on him.

How couldn’t he have seen it before? “Oh shit. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you.” Steve found himself speaking before he’d even thought about his words. Her reaction to his hand on her shoulder made even more sense now. She hadn’t been expecting it and she was a SHIELD agent. Trained to react on contact.

Ace was shaking her head, “no. I shouldn’t have reacted that way.” Steve didn’t know what to say, he ran his hand over his face, trying to find the right words for the situation when Ace looked to Clint, “should we finish the tour?”

Clint hadn’t said anything in the exchange, his narrowed eyes had watched Steve’s but at her words, he nodded; gesturing to Natasha, he placed a hand on her back and together they left to the elevator.

Steve watched her go, “nice to meet you both,” she called back as they reached the elevator. Steve was about to respond but the doors had closed and you were gone.

He turned to Bucky, “blind? How didn’t I see that?” He asked, putting his head in his hands.

“She never made eye contact. Only faced you once you said something.” Bucky said, placing a hand on his shoulder, “she took you down pretty good though.” He said, and as Steve looked up he saw the grin on Bucky’s face.

Steve let out a laugh, “yeah. Yeah, I guess she did. Nat won’t let me forget about that one for a while.”

Bucky snorted, “not at all.”

Sighing he eyed Bucky, “don’t act all cocky. You couldn’t even say a word.”

“I didn’t have to, you said quite enough for both of us,” he said, laughing.

“Fuck off Bucky,” Steve grumbled, walking away from the still chucking Bucky.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think of the changing perspectives? Is the overlap annoying? 
> 
> Let me know what you think!


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